In March this year we were advised by Perpetual Guardian that the CHS was one of a number of beneficiaries of the estate of Audrey Valmai Batchelor. Other charities to benefit were Salvation Army, World Vision, Orana Wildlife Trust, Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society et al, a total of 12 charities in all. The grant administration process has taken some time including the granting of probate and the liquidation of Ms Batchelor’s assets which were considerable as the final payout to the CHS was $120,000!
The Board is keen to provide some lasting tribute to this very generous benefactor and would welcome any ideas from members. We have checked our records but can find no evidence of Ms Batchelor ever being a member of the CHS.
When we asked Perpetual Guardian to provide some background on her they responded thus:
“She left no family and her whole estate, as you know, passes to charities. All we can tell you is that she was a legal secretary for her working life and lived in the house at 3 Ashcroft Place in Burnside owned now by the estate from when it was built in the 1960`s by her father who was a builder. She never married nor had children. Her only brother predeceased her. She clearly had an interest in gardens and gardening as she subscribed to NZ Gardener and had a quite a few gardening books. To be frank, her own garden was relatively modest although she was undoubtedly a keen gardener.”
If you have any knowledge of Ms Batchelor please share this with us as we would very much like to publish an obituary in a future edition of CHS News.
Tony Kunowski, Manager